Cliff Buchan
News Editor

All options considered, U.S. Senator Norm Coleman said this week he is willing to be patient with the current troop build-up in the war in Iraq.

But the Minnesota Republican, in an interview with the ECM Publishers Editorial Board on Monday, said the duration of the war was taking a toll on U.S. military forces and the public at large in the United States.

During a 45 minute interview, Coleman spent most of his time commenting on the four-year war effort that has followed the capture of Baghdad on April 9, 2003.

As active U.S. military forces face multiple deployments in Iraq and National Guard units continue to face call-ups to active duty, Coleman said there was no question of the pressure facing military personnel.

“They are tired,” Coleman said.

The Republican said it was clear to him the size of the U.S. Armed Forces has to increase to meet the demand being placed on it today. That will happen with new incentives to encourage enlistment. There will be no military draft, Coleman predicted.

4 options to weigh

Coleman, who visited Iraq in December and plans to go again this spring, said he believes U.S. forces are making headway through the new troop build-up. But for that success to hold, the U.S. will need the support of the Sunni population to work with the Shiite population.

Coleman labeled the current conflict between the Sunni and Shiite groups as a “civil war.” If the two groups can not find common ground, Coleman said he was skeptical of the chances for progress to be sustainable.

“I hope I am wrong,” he said.

Coleman listed four potential options for dealing with Iraq.

One involves immediately pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq while a second would set a timetable for troops being out by the end of 2008.

The latter would simply lead to instability in the region, he said, while the first is a “bad option.”

A third option would be to give the troop surge time to prove its effectiveness. Its only hope of success is the agreement of the warring factions to stop fighting, Coleman said.

“I don’t know whether they are done killing each other,” Coleman said.

A final option and one that might make sense, he said, is to order a pull-back of forces from Baghdad to fortified areas away from the capital. The troops would be removed from the violence in Baghdad, he said, but still in position to protect the Iraqi oil fields and guard against border incursions from Iran and Syria.

Coleman said the war is “consistently” the top issue he is hearing from citizens. A recent visit with two mothers of soldiers with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division reinforced his beliefs in more ways than one.

The two women were upset with the war but adamant that funding that is needed to support troops not be cut. Coleman said he will not vote to cut funding.

Other issues

In other issues addressed on Monday, Coleman:

•Expressed optimism that despite “hiccups,” the Northstar commuter line would break ground next year and would have a strong friend in Congressman Jim Oberstar who heads the House transportation committee.

•Argued the benefits of his stem cell research bill (The HOPE Act) that does not cross moral and ethical boundaries. The current Senate bill that was already passed by the House faces a sure veto by President Bush if it wins Senate approval, resulting in no progress on stem cell research this year. Coleman said his bill would allow embryonic stem cell research to move forward using alternative methods that avoid the moral dilemma of destroying a potential life.

•Pledged continued support for the promotion and development of renewable fuel sources including wind power and corn and sugar-based ethanol production to help shed the dependency of foreign oil. “We are the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” Coleman said of Minnesota.

•On Iraq in general, said former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should have been removed sooner, that he was no fan of L. Paul Bremer (the first administrator of the provisional government in Iraq) and that administration planning for the war was abysmal.

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